Sheet metal straightening hammer



March 27, 1956 E. M. ZINKE 2,739,499

SHEET METAL STRAIGHTENING HAMMER Filed May 25, 1953 INVENTOR. ERWl/V MAX Zl/V/(E ATTORNEY United rates Patent SHEET METAL STRAIGHTENING HAMMER Erwin Max Zinke, Sonoma, Calif. Application May 25, 1953, Serial No. 357,254

2 Claims. (CI. 81-15) This invention relates to an improved hammer, especially to the type of hammer used in making automobile body repairs.

When straightening bent fenders and doing other types of automobile body repairs, repairmen often hammer out the bent-in parts, using a continuous succession of relatively gentle hammer blows. The hammering may be kept up for hours before the body member is finally restored to its original shape. For this type of work, the repairmen prefer a hammer with a wide face having a slightly rounded striking surface that is less likely to cause dents than a small flat face. Yet the hammer must be light in weight, because the heavier the hammer, the more tiring the work.

In order to provide the necessary face width while keeping the weight as light as possible, the prior art employed heads with a slender shank between the wide face and the eye where the handle is wedged into the head. This slender shank has proven unsatisfactory, for the repetitive rapping has set up vibrations that tended to crystallize the metal, and the head soon broke at the shank. In many cases the hammer lasted only a month or two, and few body repair hammers in the past have lasted as long as a year.

Another trouble with prior-art body-repair hammers was that the relatively long distance between the face and the handle interfered with the accuracy of the aim, and it usually took quite a time for a repairman to become accustomed to a new hammer, so that he could swing it with perfect accuracy. Hammer makers recognized this problem but no solution was forthcoming. Once a body repairman became accustomed to one hammer, any other hammer would feel different to him and affect his aim. Consequently, the constant breaking of hammers was a double problem, causing him not only to buy a new hammer but also to take time to become accustomed to it.

I have solved these problems by a novel hammer in which the handle is secured to the head very close to the striking face. In my hammer, this is made possible by having the handle extend out at an angle to the hammer face instead of parallel to it, the angle being a relatively small one. As a result, the shank between the eye and the face can be eliminated, and this elimination makes it possible to reduce the weight of the hammer head without sacrificing its strength. It also has resulted in greater durability for there is no narrow shank where crystallization of the head causes trouble. At the same time, the hammer is easier to aim accurately because the face is very close to the end of the handle, and striking with it is like tapping with the end of a stick.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will appear from the following description of a preferred example, given in accordance with 35 U. S. C. 112 but without any intention of placing narrow limitations on the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a view in side elevation of a hammer embodying the principles of my invention. Portions of a mans hands are indicated in dot-dash lines to show how sufficient clearance for the knuckles is afforded by the novel angular construction;

Fig. 2 is a top plan View of the hammer of Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a front view of the same hammer.

The hammer shown in the drawings comprises a head 10 secured to a handle 11 so that the handle 11 extends out at an angle to the face 12 and to the working surface, indicated by the line 13 For this purpose, the eye 14 is inclined axially, as shown inFig. 1, its axis 15 coinciding with the axis 16 of the handle 11. The shape of the eye 14 is otherwise conventional so that the wedge 17 may be properly effective, and the shapes of the face 12 and the peen 18 are also conventional. (A cross peen 18 is shown here, but any other type may be used or the peen may, if desired, be eliminated.)

The angle 4:, of incination of the handle 11 with respect to the face 12 is about 4 or 5 and may be somewhat greater or lesser, but should be relatively close to that amount. A greater angle would prevent effective use of the peen 18, and the least possible angle that will still give ample clearance to the knuckles 20 while locating the eye 14 immediately back of the face 12 is what is desired. For a typical body repair hammer, a handle 11 is about 11 /2 inches long. In this invention, the handle 11 would be secured in the eye 14 with its lower edge at 21 about /2 to /8" away from the striking surface 13 and the outermost central part of the face 12. The outboard end 22 of the hammer handle 11 will then be about 1% inches above the surface 13, when the handle is held squarely, as shown in Fig. l. The lower and forward edge 23 of the eye 14 is about /z" or less from the face 12 and the striking surface 13.

Hammers constructed according to the present invention give increased accuracy of aim and make it possible to do precise work in cramped spaces. The head 10 has no shank that would break easily; so the hammer has a much longer life than ordinary body repair hammers. At the same time it is very light in weight, because of the elimination of the shank portion found in prior art hammers.

To those skilled in the art to which this invention relates, many changes in construction and widely differing embodiments and applications of the invention will suggest themselves without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The disclosures and the description herein are purely illustrative and are not intended to be in any sense limiting.

I claim:

1. A hammer for automobile body repair and the like, including in combination a handle and head with a striking face and secured to said handle at a locus closely adjacent said face, the handle being inclined at an angle of about 4 or 5 relative to said striking face, so that an operator can grasp the hammer handle and work safely in cramped quarters.

2. A hammer for automobile body repair and the like, including in combination a hammer head having an eye therethrough and a striking face about one-half inch from said eye, said eye being inclined to said face at a very small acute angle, and a handle about one foot long with one end wedged into said eye, the outer end being spaced about 1 /2 away from the plane of said face.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Phillips et al. Feb. 10, 1953 

